When we look at a map, we can see that Iran is a country at peace located at the center of a region where the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is conducting its most important humanitarian operations, said ICRC’s former chief.
Speaking in his farewell ceremony that coincided with ICRC’s 150th anniversary, Pierre Ryter said fours years spent in this beautiful country have taught me a lot.
“When it comes to humanitarian issues, I can now better understand the importance of geography and history,” he said.
During this ceremony which was held in Tehran on Sunday, ICRC’s Olivier Martin, the new ICRC’s head of mission in Tehran, was also introduced.
A photo exhibition was also held on the sidelines of the ceremony to commemorate ICRC’s 150-year history of providing humanitarian assistance and protection for people suffering the effects of armed conflict or other violence.
In this ceremony, the new book of Professor Mohammad Reza Ziaee Bigdeli on international humanitarian law was also unveiled.
In an interview with Iran Daily, Ryter talked about his experiences in Iran and Iran’s cooperation with ICRC. Excerpts follow:
IRAN DAILY: With regard to humanitarian issues and activities, what particular aspects did you notice about Iran during your four-year mission in this country?
PIERRE RYTER: In Iran, we have quite a number of partners. Therefore, we are not doing much on our own. We are mainly working in partnership with other organizations. This is a privilege because our partners in Iran have a high motivation for doing activities related with humanitarian issues.
Tonight, some of ICRC’s partners have attended this ceremony. It is really a privilege to see that in Iran actually we don’t have much to do. We just have to sometimes follow the partners and help them in certain fields. In many other fields, they are helping us.

How do you evaluate Iran’s cooperation with ICRC?
I think Iran is cooperating a lot with ICRC at different levels. In particular, our cooperation with the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has taken a very impressive dimension. I think we can do more in the future because clearly, there exist important needs in this regard around Iran.
We want to benefit from IRCS’s experiences and expertise to address those needs. We can also expand our cooperation with the Iranian authorities. We are doing a lot in relation with the consequences of the Iraqi-imposed war.
I hope that consequently the sorrows of all the families, who still do not have any news from their relatives lost or imprisoned during the war, will be over. However, there are other fields where we can do more.
Iran has always given advice to an organization like the ICRC. We are ready to listen to Iran’s advice to better understand the situation of not only Iran but the region as a whole.

Any concluding remarks?
My final word is “thank you”. We are guests in this country. Iran is a very hospitable country. Most Iranians really show high levels of hospitability which I think as foreigners we can only appreciate.

What to Say or Not to Say in Islam

Islam prohibits sinful speech that intends to cause harm to other human beings. It also prohibits excessive laughter or extreme humor.
People in general do not think twice about what they are saying; they forget that every word they utter is being recorded and will have to be accounted for on the Last Day, MuslimVillage reported.
This attitude is the opposite of that required of a believer, which is described in the following narrative:
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “Whoever believes in Allah and the last day should either speak what is good or remain silent.”
There are many forms of sinful speech, the most common of which is gossip. Gossip can be of two types: Backbiting, which means talking negatively about a person who is absent, even if what is being discussed is true.
The second type is slandering, which means lying while speaking negatively about others. This category includes suspicion without evidence, mockery and looking for faults in others.
Allah has prohibited all of the above in the following verse: “O you who have believed, avoid much (negative) assumption. Indeed, some assumption is sin. And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is accepting of repentance and Merciful” (Qur’an, 49: 12)
These sins of the tongue, which people treat lightly, are actually the root causes of disunity among Muslims. If we are constantly thinking negatively about, looking for faults in, and spreading rumors about our fellow Muslims, how can we ever expect our hearts to be united?
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has forbidden us from joking too much because it deadens the heart.
Thus, moderation is required even in humor. It is also vital to understand that there is a time for laughter and humor, and a time for seriousness and sobriety. The reason for this prohibition is that excessive laughter makes people take life less seriously and they begin to see humor in everything.
It also makes them so accustomed to humor that they are unable to sit through any serious speech. Such people find lectures boring and do not attend anything beneficial simply because they do not find it funny.
It should also be noted that jokes that mock or degrade any demographic group or individual are completely prohibited, as are fabricated stories that make people laugh, unless the audience knows that they are not true. Of course, the best jokes are the ones based on true, daily-life anecdotes.
There is no harm in narrating such incidents to others to share a laugh.
Regarding mockery and degradation, Allah has informed us: “O you who believe, let not a people ridicule (another) people; perhaps they may be better than them; nor let women ridicule (other) women; perhaps they may be better than them. And do not insult one another and do not call each other by (offensive) nicknames. Wretched is the name (that is, mention) of disobedience after (one’s) faith. And whoever does not repent--then it is those who are the wrongdoers.” (Qur’an, 49: 11).
Islam brings about the perfect balance of actions and anything in excess is surely harmful.

Cigarette Taxes, Bans to Save Millions of Lives

Anti-smoking measures, including higher taxes on tobacco products, bans on adverts and controls on lighting up in public places, can prevent tens of millions of premature deaths across the world, researchers said on Monday.
Similar steps taken by Turkey, Romania and 39 other countries between 2007 and 2010 were already saving lives, the independent study published by the World Health Organization (WHO) said, Reuters reported.
“If the progress attained by these...countries were extended globally, tens of millions of smoking-related deaths could be averted,” Professor David Levy, the study’s lead author from Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, said in the WHO’s monthly bulletin.
“The wider use of the controls could also lead to lower healthcare costs and higher birth weights for babies,” he added.
Tobacco-control measures already introduced in the 41 countries, that also included Pakistan, Argentina and Italy, were on track to persuade an estimated 15 million people not to smoke, the study said. That would prevent around 7.4 million smoking-related deaths by 2050, it added.
The researchers found the most effective measures were increasing taxes and banning smoking in offices, restaurants and other public places. The first method would prevent 3.5 million smoking-attributable deaths, while the second would prevent 2.5 million, they said.
“If anything, it is an underestimate,” said Dr. Douglas Bettcher, director of WHO’s Department of Noncommunicable Diseases.
“It is a win-win situation for health and finance ministries to generate revenues that have a major impact on improving health and productivity.”
Bettcher said Turkey’s steps led to a sharp drop in smoking rates to 41.5 percent among men in 2012 from 47.9 percent in 2008.
Six million people die every year from smoking and the toll is projected to rise to eight million by 2030, according to the WHO, a United Nations agency waging war on “Big Tobacco”.
The WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which came into force in 2005, lays down measures to curb smoking and tobacco use. About 175 countries have ratified the pact, shunned by others that are home to large tobacco companies, including the United States, Switzerland and Indonesia.
Measures include raising taxes on tobacco products to 75 percent of the final retail price, smoke-free air policies, warnings on cigarette packages, bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and offering treatments to kick the habit.

Foreign Workers Worried In Saudi Arabia

Illegal foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, mostly Asians, are in a race against time to take advantage of an amnesty ending Wednesday that would allow them to stay or return home without prosecution.
King Abdullah announced the amnesty on April 3, granting foreign workers three months to regularize their residency or leave the oil-rich Persian Gulf monarchy to avoid being blacklisted or jailed and fined, AFP reported.
More than 1.5 million illegal foreign workers came forward during the first two months of the amnesty, the labor ministry said.
It did not say how many illegal foreign workers currently live in the kingdom, but the number is reported to be around two million.
Of these, some 180,000 have left in addition to more than 200,000 unregistered workers expelled at the start of the year under new regulations to stamp out illegal immigration.
Many workers are still queuing outside their embassies to obtain documents to either leave Saudi Arabia or legalize their status before Wednesday.
In Jeddah, the commercial capital, Indonesian worker Ali Rahman stood outside Jakarta’s Consulate, desperately waiting to finalize his documents.
“I’ve lost hope unless the amnesty is extended to after July 3,” he said.
“There are still hundreds of us waiting here for consular formalities. And once completed, the paperwork has to go to the immigration authorities and the labor ministr.”
It is a worrying time for the workers, most of whom are from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia, but with some from Yemen and Egypt too.
They are fearful of the campaign of arrests promised by authorities once the amnesty expires.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is a goldmine for millions of people from poor Asian and Arab countries where unemployment is high.
According to official statistics, eight million expatriates work in the kingdom.

India Home to 40% of World’s Malnourished People

India comprises 40 percent of the world’s malnourished population and the highest rate of underweight children due to the improper implementation of government policies, a global health expert said.
“Despite being an emerging economy, Indian conditions are bad in terms of health and nutrition compared to other countries like Brazil, Nepal, Bangladesh and China,” said M G Venkatesh Mannar, president of Canada-based NGO, Micronutrient Initiative, PTI reported.
“India has the highest rates of stunted growth, underweight and anemia in children. And the most ironic part is that India has all the programs and policies required to handle the problem, but then there is no proper implementation.”
Mannar, who is one of the co-authors of the 2013 Lancet series on Maternal and Child Undernutrition, said, “Here it cuts across many ministries like the Ministry of Health, Women and Child Development, Education and Rural Development. Thus, there are no champions of this problem and also no proper accountability.”
According to the World Children Report 2013 prepared by the UNICEF, India ranks 49th in the under-5 mortality rate whereas China, Brazil, Nepal and Bangladesh stand at 115, 107, 57 and 60 respectively.
India infant mortality rate has reduced from 81 per 1,000 lives to 47 per 1,000 between 1990 and 2011 whereas it has reduced from 49 to 14 per 1,000 lives in Brazil during the same period.

Rio’s Poor Too Busy to Protest

More than 1.5 million people have taken to the streets across Brazil during the Confederations Cup to protest poor public services as well as the cost of staging this event and next year’s World Cup.
But some of the poorest citizens of all, those who live in the favelas or slum regions of big cities such as Rio, say they just cannot spare the time, Globalpost.com reported.
They agree Brazil needs better hospitals and schools.
But even if they would like to join the protests, earning a living is the overriding priority. Starting early and finishing late, their day is spent struggling to survive.
Earlier this week, around a thousand residents of Rocinha marched on the Rio governor’s house down by the beach in the smart Copacabana district to protest their lot.
Raimundo do Nascimento, who has spent 17 of his 40 years in Rocinha, would have liked to join the protests. So would Robson de Souza Cristina but they did not have the time.
“Come wind, come weather,” they are working away: Raimundo at the little hardware store he runs and Robson at a store selling sandals.
“Rocinha needs health services--there are a lot of things which need doing,” said Raimundo.
“But I cannot down tools to go and demonstrate,” the father of three explained. Robson agreed. “I would go if I could--but I need to work,” he said.
“People say Brazil is apathetic but that is not so,” said Robson. “The people have woken up and are demanding everything that is missing.”

American Workplace Stressful

Driving to work is not stressful for most Americans, but a US survey indicates their workplace is the source of most stress in their lives.